


The Future is a Scary Place

by dorkslayer



Series: TRC+TFC crossovers [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Little League Exy, M/M, Ronan is a little league Exy coach, the most self indulgent thing i've ever written, well maybe not but it's up there, write the fic you want to see in the world, yeah you heard me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 04:18:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10549946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkslayer/pseuds/dorkslayer
Summary: Ronan Lynch is a little league Exy coach and that's the gist of it.





	

If someone had told Ronan Lynch two years ago that he would be living on a farm with his young daughter working as a little league Exy coach in his future, well, Ronan probably would have laughed and punched that motherfucker right in the face. 

But here he is now, because the universe has a sick sense of humor.

He couldn't tell you exactly how it happened, but he thinks life started to go topsy turvy after graduation.

It starts because despite everything, he's actually lonely. He still has Opal of course, and Chainsaw, and all the other creatures that live at the barns, but it's just not the same. Adam is at Princeton all the way up in Jersey and even though he visits when he can, and calls almost every day, Ronan feels his absence like the loss of a limb.

Gansey and Blue are traveling the great unknown. Well, not really, they're on a research expedition in some jungle. They skype when they can get Internet but Gansey has mostly taken to sending actual letters to them in the mail. Opal delights in opening each of them and treats them like Christmas come early. 

Ironically, the only high school friend of his he sees on a regular basis is Henry, who decided to go to good old UVA for college, and visits almost every weekend. At this point he's earned his very own guest bedroom which contains a dreamed up toothbrush and a few changes of clothes. 

He and Opal lead pretty peaceful lives, which is a shock given how strange the past few years have been. Ronan is a terrible parent. He's totally self aware of the fact too, but Declan still likes to remind him every time he drops by. He has no idea what the fuck he's supposed to do with a child, so he just does his best. Opal is technically "homeschooled" though she's probably smarter than Ronan by now given the kinds of books she likes to read. He doesn't understand how a child can be so smart and yet eat so many crayons.

The Exy part is a real big surprise, mostly because Ronan avoids sorts with the plague. It starts because Ronan sucks at policing what Opal watches on TV and when he comes back from tending to the cows she's watching college sports with an intensity that rivals Gansey's when welsh kings are involved. 

She looks up at him with a serious expression and says solemnly, "I want to play that."

The sport is called Exy and Ronan only knows about it vaguely because Aglionby had a team. He has no idea how it works or what the point of it is.

"Okay. Sure." He agrees easily, plopping down with her to watch the game. The team playing is called the Foxes and they seem to be doing pretty okay (okay so Ronan has no idea how they're doing. He can barely decipher the scoreboard). 

They go to Henrietta's local YMCA three days later when the obsession hasn't died down and Ronan is tired of hearing about this mutant lacrosse tennis lovechild of a sport and about one more sentence away from trying to un dream his child.

The lady at the front desk regretfully tells them that they don't currently have an Exy team for someone Opals age so Ronan looks her in the eye and asks what can they can do to change that.

It takes just over two months, but after some aggressive headhunting and asinine community meetings that Ronan refuses to every attend again, they have enough kids to start a team. The problem is that they don't have a coach. 

But Opal looks at him with eyes full of stars and Ronan has a moment of clarity where he realizes that he's wrapped tight around her pinky finger. Then he sighs, accepts his lot in life, and volunteers to spend all of his free time with 9 and 10 year olds. 

So he reads the handbook and watches the games and eventually has a half assed knowledge of the sport, which is apparently good enough for the adults who will be paying him.

So that's how Ronan starts spending his Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with small children, teaching them a sport he only barely knows. Adam laughs so hard when he hears the news that Ronan actually hangs up the phone. Henry does the same but they're face to face and Ronan hasn't yet figured out how to hang up on somebody when you're not on the phone so instead he flicks him in the nose.

He just laughs harder.

Gansey and Blue were notified in their last letter, but there hasn't been a response from them yet, and Ronan can only imagine the ridicule the next letter will contain.

So anyways, Ronan has an Exy team now. They number only 8, and they suck, but they look like they're having fun, and according to the coaching book he read, that's all that really matters.

Opal makes some friends, and Ronan is secretly proud of her. Ronan gains some middle aged moms who like to message him sports memes on Facebook and drop by pies sometimes, so that's cool too.

The letter from Gansey, when it comes, contains the words "soccer mom". It is immediately thrown away.

**Author's Note:**

> asdfghjkl I can't believe I wrote this also I have like a whole spreadsheet on why I think  
> Adam would go to Princeton also Ronan is a soccer mom anyone who disagrees can fight me. I'm probably gonna add more with the Foxes involved. Maybe.


End file.
